God’s Object Lesson

Posted on December 27, 2015 by Margaret

In the last blog I described a botched opportunity to do a random act of kindness for a needy lady, but God didn’t let me forget it. He repeatedly bothered my conscience till I knew I’d have to do something to make up for my poor choice.

The next morning a handful of us were seated at a restaurant having breakfast, so I planned to tell the group of my fail, and ask for input.

As I waited for the right moment, a stranger broke into our conversation, arriving at our table with a beautifully wrapped package. He walked up to Emerald and handed the gift to her as if he’d planned it for weeks. “Here you go, little girl. Merry Christmas!” Immediately afterwards, he hurried away.

Assuming it was the restaurant manager giving gifts to all young patrons, we questioned our waitress when she returned. “Did you see that?”

“Yes,” she said. “Interesting.”

“Is he part of the restaurant staff?”

“I’ve never seen him.”

Emerald opened her present (wrapped in paper decorated on both sides) to find a 9” X 12” book – Merry Christmas Charlie Brown. And then it hit me. God was demonstrating what he’d wanted me to do the day before, by allowing me to experience the warm feeling of being surprised with an unexpected gift. As we were saying, “Wow! Can you believe this?” God was saying, “That’s what I had in mind for the Walmart lady. Understand?”

And I did. But there was more.

As our eggs and pancakes arrived, I told my family the story of the Walmart lady, expressing sadness that I hadn’t responded to God’s prompt.

“Maybe you should respond now then,” Nelson said.

“How?”

“See that guy over there?” he said, pointing to a man eating alone across the room. “Why don’t you pay for his breakfast?”

When our waitress returned, I asked if she could put his meal on our bill without letting him know who paid. “No problem,” she said. “Glad to help.”

But God wasn’t finished. When our server brought the bill she said, “Your breakfast will be 25% off this morning. That couple over there gave me a coupon to apply to your meal.” It was Ann, a local bank teller, having breakfast with her husband.

The Lord was creatively driving home his point about giving to others without counting the cost. But he wasn’t done even yet.

When I looked at the bill and its 25% discount, the extra meal we bought totaled less than the discount we received. So even after our gift of a free breakfast, we were going to leave the restaurant with a gain. The only thing to do was give it away– and we joyfully left a 50% tip for our waitress.

But God had one final comment to make. Our food plus tax added up to $46.10 – a familiar number. “Hey,” I said. “Isn’t that an important Bible reference?”

“You’re probably thinking of Psalm 46:10,” Nelson said. “ ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ ”

A Blog Hiatus

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Margaret

In 2005, my sister Mary and I began talking about writing a book together. Our children were mostly grown, some married with children themselves. They were asking for advice, and we wondered if sharing our mothering experiences might make a helpful book. It wouldn’t be a compilation of quotes from experts or the experiences of other moms but simply what worked and what didn’t in raising our 14 kids.

(17 first cousins: Mary’s 7 — my 7 — our brother Tom’s 3)

After months of discussion, our first official meeting finally took place on September 27, 2006, during which we spent time praying over our book idea and recording names of women who might pray along with us. We created a statement of purpose and began making notes.

But life got in the way. My family moved from our home of 29 years to a much smaller place and had to focus on eliminating and concentrating. Shortly thereafter, Nate got sick, and in a whirlwind of upheaval and grief, he passed away.

While we were still reeling, Mary and Bervin’s home of 40 years sold, and they too were eliminating and concentrating to make a move. Then shortly after that, Mary learned of her pancreatic cancer and began treatment with major surgery and 6 months of chemo. During these same years, the two of us greeted 19 new grandchildren and 6 new in-law children. Our book was firmly stuck on the back burner.

But now, 10 years after our first book-discussion, God suddenly began giving me a repeated prompt: “How about that book on mothering?”

Since my book of prayers for widows is in its final editing stage, I began praying extensively about resurrecting Mary’s and my book. “Lord, should we really try to do it?” But as always, he was way ahead of me and was all set with his answer.

Two weeks ago, I was listening to a sermon while readying for the day, glancing at my open Bible now and then. When the preacher referenced Proverbs 4:23, I turned there and found brackets and a star at that exact verse. I’d also written a note there, 8 years ago:

“Whatever my assignment from God, I must focus intently on it and do it without distractions, gazed fixed, looking directly ahead. 11/07 (Mary’s and my book).”

I’ve often wished that after I’ve prayed about something, God would just send me a letter with his answer. This was pretty close!

What were the odds I’d hear that particular sermon referencing that particular verse after that particular week of prayer about the book? What were the chances I’d have even chosen that particular Bible to use that day, of the many I own? No other Bible had that particular note in it.

Immediately I thought about the Lord watching me write in that margin in 2007 while knowing he was going to impact me with it in 2015. Only God…

And so I stepped into his directive, “gazed fixed on the book,” and talked to Mary. These days she is feeling tip-top, another fact that defies all odds. But with God, who believes in odds? She shared my excitement about revisiting our book and was all for walking through the door God had re-opened.

So… as we move forward “looking directly ahead,” I will be the writer; Mary will be the organizer, fact-checker, side-bar creator, and brains behind the words. In order to find new writing time, though, I’ll need to dial-back on blog posts for a while. Though I may blog occasionally, it will no longer be 5 posts a week.

This decision was a difficult one, since I feel attached to you readers and look forward to blogging each day. But I’ll continue to pray for you, and you’ll be on my mind daily. Also, I promise that if anything changes with Mary’s health, I will immediately resume regular blogging. Meanwhile, concerning Mary, you can assume that NO news will always be GOOD news!

As for our book? Stay tuned….

“Show me your ways, Lord…. Guide me in your truth and teach me….” (Psalm 25:4,5)

Take it all in.

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Margaret

Most women find themselves in possession of unnumbered spray bottles ranging from perfume spritzers to cleaning products. I counted 6 under my kitchen sink alone.

We view these chemical sprays as tools to help us get specific jobs done, and the contents of most are toxic. That’s why we don’t let young children play with them, despite their pleading.

But a spray bottle filled with clean water? That’s ok. Thanks to the dollar store, Emerald has 6 of them and plays with them almost daily. She lines them up and says, “Train!” Or she’ll sit on the floor, setting them around her in a circle and say, “Ewa is clustering.” [Sidenote: we taught her that word after noticing how she often gathers toys into small groups.]

She’ll tip her bottles sideways and say, “Ni-night.” Or she’ll bounce them up and down: “Bottles jumping!” She plays with them in the bathtub and loves squirting the basement floor, especially if she’s been drawing with chalk beforehand.

Yesterday that’s what she was doing when she suddenly came running. “It’s broken! MeeMee! It’s broken!”

And sure enough, her red bottle was smashed and dented. I wondered how a weakling toddler could inflict such significant damage on a rigid plastic bottle. But then I unscrewed the nozzle and watched as the bottle miraculously straightened out in an instant. It was a perfect illustration of an “implosion.”

To implode means to burst inward, and the eventual result is complete collapse. One dictionary says, “to collapse inward in a violent manner.” Apparently as Emerald had been spraying her bottle, it hadn’t been able to “take in” as much as it had “put out,” and the outside pressure had overwhelmed the inside.

Such an implosion is actually an effective visual for what can happen to us spiritually. All of us have experienced times when trouble seems to come in multiples. No single problem crushes us, but in a “cluster” (to use Emerald’s word) they can cause rapid inward collapse.

How can we avoid “getting dented” when outside pressures become intense? The only way is to breathe in spiritual oxygen in greater volume than we breathe it out. This necessitates being vigilant about what’s going on inside of us and takes a firm resolve to give more attention to that than to what’s happening around us.

It’s helpful to ask, “Am I taking in the strengthening truths of Scripture? Am I asking God to prepare me for whatever’s ahead? Have I routed out self-centeredness and sin to make room for Christ’s righteousness?” If we’re willing to follow the instructions he gives, we’ll be able to stand firm.

As for Emerald’s red bottle, after I loosened the nozzle, it functioned perfectly. And if we’ll just as readily let God fix what’s wrong inside of us, implosion and collapse will never happen.